Mirror, Mirror...

Yesterday's lecture was a fascinating examination of the work on the new European Extra Large telescope. Prof. David Walker (University College, London, and Glyndwr University, Wrexham) spoke on the history of telescope design before talking about the background to the E-ELT, its design and manufacture.

Being of a not very practical nature, I wasn't expecting this to be my thing, but I found it riveting, not least due to Prof. Walker's engaging style and obvious enthusiasm.

Distant Waterworld

 

GJ 1214b orbits close to its host star, as this artist's impression shows.

Astronomers have confirmed the existence of a new class of planet: a waterworld with a thick, steamy atmosphere. The exoplanet GJ 1214b is a so-called "Super Earth" - bigger than our planet, but smaller than gas giants such as Jupiter.

More, from the BBC, here.

News Feeds

Do you ever scroll to the bottom of a web page?

If you scroll to the bottom of this one, you will find links to various blogs of astronomical interest:

European Space Agency
Astronomy Now magazine
Sky and Telescope magazine

Why not take a look?

A. G. M.

Last night's meeting was a wonderfully succinct Annual General Meeting. The main piece of news from the meeting is that the annual subscriptions remain unchanged at £13, £7 for concessions, and free for under 16s.

This was followed by a talk on upcoming astronomical events for 2012 by member Richard Sargent.

Websites worth a look

Hubblesite
Nine Planets

I hope to occasionally add further useful websites.